The present invention relates to an an aeration device to facilitate the flow and discharge of bulk material granules and the like through a discharge opening in a bulk material container or hopper.
It is well known that the discharge of bulk material granules from a storage chamber in a bulk material can result in container product blockage or other interruptions in the flow of material which cause various conditions commonly known as arching, bridging, "rat-holing" and the like. Such storage chambers may be provided in various types of equipment including hopper trucks, hopper cars, storage silos, bins and other types of industrial storage chambers. When there is a blockage or interruption of the flow of bulk materials through a discharge opening in a storage chamber, substantial down time in clearing the discharge opening can result. In addition, it is well known that substantial waste or loss of bulk material product can occur when there is incomplete "clean-out" or removal of product from the storage chamber, as well as possible contamination to a subsequent product load from resulting incompletely removed product in a previous product load.
The aforementioned well known problems have resulted in the development of various devices for introducing air or sonic waves into the bulk material product within the storage chamber in order to break-up product blockage and facilitate the free flow of bulk material through a discharge opening in the storage chamber. While the types and kinds of aeration and other devices used for the above purpose are to numerous to mention, attention is directed to the following representative patents which disclose some of the different prior art efforts to solve the aforementioned problems: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,092,010; 3,343,888; 3,829,022; 4,172,539; and 4,189,262.
One such aeration device that has been developed to date is known as the Butler .RTM. Flowcone.RTM. which is covered by U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,261. In this patent, a flexible cone shaped silicone rubber jacket is mounted over a complementary shaped aluminum casting having an air inlet passageway.
Air is introduced through the air passageway in the aluminum casting, and this causes the cone shaped rubber jacket to flutter or vibrate by air flowing past the flexible cone-shaped jacket. This device enhances the aeration of the bulk material so as to facilitate the discharge of the bulk material from the storage chamber. For reasons which will be discussed in detail hereafter, the aeration device of the present invention is discussed and compared to this particular prior art device, in order to show the many numerous advantages and features of the present invention which are believed to result over this commercially successful prior art device.
In my copending patent application Ser. No. 07/286,240 filed Dec. 19, 1988 and entitled POROUS FILTER PAD FOR FLUID PRESSURE CONVEYING SYSTEMS, I have disclosed a self-supporting molded plastic body porous filter pad with opposed walls. The porous filter pad or membrane of my prior copending application is constructed for use in conjunction with a fluid pressure conveying system, such as fluidized bed to assist in unloading bulk material product into a flow line or trough. As will further be made apparent in the discussion that follows, the aeration device of the present invention incorporates some of the features and teachings of my aforementioned prior copending application.